As hybrid working becomes the norm, the question of what the office is actually for is being asked again. People who can also work from home no longer come in just to sit at a desk; they come to concentrate, to make things together and to be part of a community. That shifts office design away from arranging rows of desks and towards a process grounded in understanding behaviour. In this article we explain how we approach an office interior project, from activity-based zones and acoustics to ergonomics, company culture and measuring what happens after the move.
What has hybrid working changed about the office?
The office used to be a place where everyone met at the same desk every day. In a hybrid arrangement, people come in with a purpose: a team meeting, getting to know a new colleague, a quiet setting they cannot find at home, or simply the energy of being together. This shift pushes the office to stop being an obligation and become a place worth the journey. So the first design question is no longer how many desks are needed, but what kinds of work people will want to do there.
Another consequence of hybrid working is that occupancy varies from day to day. On some days of the week the office is busy, while on others whole floors may be half empty. Designing for that fluctuation calls for shared desks, lockers for personal belongings, a booking system and spaces that still feel alive at different levels of occupancy. Both the chill of an empty floor and the tension of an overcrowded day shape how people feel about the office. So we plan space not around a single occupancy assumption but around changing scenarios.
What are activity-based zones, and how are they organised?
Activity-based workplace design treats the office not as a field of identical desks but as a series of spaces suited to different kinds of work. An employee might move to a quiet room in the morning to write a report that needs concentration, to a project area with writable walls for teamwork in the afternoon, and to a booth for a video call in between. The balance of these zones differs from one organisation to the next; the nature of the work, the structure of the teams and their working habits are what decide it.
When placing zones, we create a gradient of noise and movement: from the busy areas near the entrance and the social hub towards quiet zones in the more sheltered corners of the floor. This sequence avoids common mistakes such as a quiet area ending up right next to the coffee machine. The etiquette for each zone matters as much as the space itself; small agreements, such as where phone calls should be taken, noticeably reduce tension in the office.
- Focus rooms: quiet, well-lit spaces for one or two people, with a door that closes.
- Phone booths: small, acoustically insulated enclosures for video calls and short phone calls.
- Collaboration spaces: project and meeting rooms of different sizes, equipped with screens, writing surfaces and flexible furniture.
- Social hub: the shared heart of the office, bringing together kitchen, coffee and meeting functions.
Why do acoustics, daylight and views matter in office design?
The most common complaint in open-plan offices is noise — or, more precisely, the distraction of conversations you can follow. Good acoustic design reduces this with sound-absorbing ceiling and wall surfaces, soft floor finishes, acoustically rated partitions and carefully planned distances. With the rise of video meetings, controlling reverberation in meeting rooms has also become more important; whether the person on the other side of the screen hears you clearly depends largely on the room’s acoustics.
Daylight and a visual connection to the outside have a marked effect on how people feel through the day. So we prefer to place the most-used work areas near the façade and gather enclosed rooms, storage and plant rooms towards the core of the floor. Opening up the window line to shared areas, rather than lining it with meeting rooms, turns the view into something everyone can enjoy instead of the privilege of a few. Blinds and shading that control glare complete this decision.
Ergonomics, biophilic design and flexibility
Ergonomics is about more than choosing a good chair. Height-adjustable desks, the right screen distance, laptop risers, glare-free lighting and a layout that encourages standing or walking during the day need to be considered together. On shared desks, adjustments must be quick and intuitive; when a different person sits there every day, a complicated adjustment system simply goes unused. Biophilic design, meanwhile, brings a connection with nature into the space: plants, natural materials and textures, and the way daylight changes over the course of the day.
Flexibility means the office can respond not only to today’s needs but also to tomorrow’s uncertainty. Teams grow and shrink, and new ways of working emerge. Mobile furniture, partitions that are easy to reconfigure, flexible power and data distribution from the ceiling and a modular planning grid all make it easier to adapt without major refurbishment. Still, making everything movable is not the answer; a few fixed, strong spaces support the office’s identity and help people find their way.
Company culture, brand and briefing workshops
Every day, an office quietly tells the story of how an organisation works and what it values. We prefer to express brand identity not by enlarging the logo on a wall, but through material choices, the way visitors are welcomed, where managers sit and how much space is given to shared areas. In a company that aims for an open, transparent culture, private managers’ offices occupying the best views on the floor create a contradiction between what is said and what is lived. A sense of belonging feeds on that consistency.
Before starting the design, we try to understand how the space is used today. Meeting-room booking records, access-card data or occupancy counts on selected days show which areas are genuinely used; this data should be handled anonymously and with care for personal data protection. Because numbers do not tell the whole story, we also hold briefing workshops with people from different teams and levels of seniority. Here are some of the questions we ask to get those conversations started:
- On which days, and for what kinds of work, do you come into the office?
- Where do you go at the moment when you need to concentrate?
- What is the setting in which you work best with your team?
- Which tasks do you do better at home, and what do you miss about the office?
- Where in the office do you feel the strongest and the weakest sense of belonging?
Technology, wellbeing and measuring after the move
In a hybrid office, technology is as much part of the space as the furniture. One-touch video conferencing in meeting rooms, seating arrangements in which the camera shows everyone equally, enough sockets and charging points, a strong wireless network and booking screens all need planning from the outset. This infrastructure is tied directly to ceiling, floor and furniture decisions; added later, it inevitably brings exposed cables. Wellbeing, in turn, is supported by details such as fresh air, thermal comfort, access to drinking water, quiet corners for a break and stairs that make it easy to move during the day.
Office design does not end on moving day. Running short surveys with staff in the first months, observing how much each area is used and holding a review meeting together a few months later show what works and what needs adjusting. Even small corrections — too many booths, too few project rooms, a coffee point in the wrong place — can noticeably improve how the office works day to day. That is why we prefer to finalise the areas we have left flexible after this first review.
If you are planning to rethink your office, start by noting for a few weeks how it is actually used: which days are busy, which rooms stay empty, where people go looking for quiet. Add the current floor plan, the structure of your teams and the changes you expect in the coming period. Involving a few colleagues in these observations also makes a strong start for the workshops that follow. This simple preparation lets the first conversation rest on real needs rather than assumptions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does everyone need their own desk in a hybrid office?
There is no single answer for every organisation. If occupancy varies from day to day, sharing desks and using the space gained for focus rooms or collaboration areas is often more effective. Some roles, however, do need a fixed workplace. Usage data and workshops with staff reveal the right balance.
How long do office design and fit-out take?
It depends on the size of the space, the condition of the existing building, the scope of building services and air-conditioning work, the amount of bespoke joinery and the building management’s rules for carrying out works. Whether the office is refurbished while in use or while empty also affects the timetable. Preparing a project-specific programme after the brief and preliminary design is the soundest approach.
Is an open-plan or a cellular office better?
Rather than setting the two against each other, it is better to provide the variety the work requires. A fully open plan makes concentration hard, while a fully cellular one restricts communication and daylight. An activity-based layout balances open work areas with quiet rooms, booths and meeting spaces, giving people a genuine choice.
Can we make extensive changes to a rented office?
Yes, but the terms of the lease, the building management’s technical requirements and any necessary permits should be checked first. In some buildings, work on building services, the façade or fire-safety systems may be restricted. So before design begins we recommend confirming with the building management and, where necessary, the relevant authorities; legal questions should be referred to a specialist.
